7-year-old, family in Belle River overwhelmed at support after brain tumour diagnosis

Maya Hulme is photographed in her Belle River home on Friday, August 10, 2012. Hulme returned from three months in London where she under went surgery and radiation treatment for a brain tumour. The family was overwhelmed by the support they have received. (The Windsor Star / TYLER BROWNBRIDGE)

The Hulmes weren’t expecting to depend on the kindness of strangers, but its just that sort of thing that helped them through a difficult spring and summer.

Maya Hulme, 7, said she is feeling “good” after surgery to remove an egg-sized tumour from the base of her skull and after going through 30 rounds of radiation in London.

“She’s amazing. You don’t hear a peep. She does what she has to do,” said Maya’s mother, Jenn Hulme, who describes her eldest daughter as very brave, albeit a bit shy in her newspaper interview.

And along with Maya’s bravery, a big part of what keeps her and the whole family going is the overwhelming support they’ve had from family, friends and even people they don’t know, said Hulme.

“We don’t know how to reach out and thank everybody,” Hulme said. “It’s just been overwhelming.”

It was amazing to see how everyone came together for her daughter, she said, adding that Maya’s prognosis is good and she has 49 weeks of chemotherapy left to go.

After Maya was diagnosed in May, students at Lakeshore Discovery Public School, where Maya just finished Grade 2, set up lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to the family so the Hulmes could take time off work and be in London for nine weeks during Maya’s radiation treatments. Neighbours and friends stopped by the house with groceries and prepared meals and pitched in for gas cards to cover the family’s cost of driving back and forth.

Maya’s teacher (“Amazing” is how Hulme describes her) pulled together a group of walkers to do the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada’s annual Spring Sprint in early June at the Riverside Sportsmen’s Club.

Maya’s schoolmates, even those ones who don’t know her personally, each prepared a little gift box for her – one to open every day of her chemo treatment – with a photo of themselves, a note and a little pick-me-up like a candy or sticker. They even made boxes for Maya’s three-year-old sister Gracie so she can also stay cheerful through her sister’s illness.

“It’s a lot of little boxes,” Hulme laughed.

Maya talked with classmates and her teachers from her hospital bed using her iPad and students made pillow cases to decorate her room.

A little cousin of the Hulmes even cut her hair in solidarity and donated it for a cancer wig so Maya wouldn’t be the only one without hair as she went through treatment. Even small things like phone calls, emails and text messages helped them through, Hulme said.

Maya was diagnosed with medulloblastoma – a malignant brain tumour that typically forms between the brain stem and the brain – in May. “It was surreal,” Hulme said. “It happened so fast.”

The doctors decided quickly to send Maya to London for surgery. On the same day she was diagnosed, Hulme was driven to London Health Sciences Centre and her husband travelled in the Ornge air ambulance with Maya to the hospital.

Maya had been showing flu-type symptoms for about a month before that, Hulme said, and she was scheduled to see a pediatric neurologist.

But on Mother’s Day weekend, they noticed something was really wrong when Maya had trouble riding her bike – something unusual for the 7-year-old who loves arts and crafts and is usually in control of every situation.

Hulme brought her daughter to Windsor Regional where doctors did balance tests and ordered a CT scan. They found an egg-sized tumour at the base of her skull. Before they knew it, Hulme said, Maya was being airlifted to London and had surgery some days later.

Maya made it through the 12-hour operation and defied the odds, too, Hulme said. The doctors told them she might not walk after the surgery, or talk or be able to swallow. Instead, she made it through without complications. Maya even picked up a new craft hobby – melty beads – while in hospital.

“She walks, she talks, she smiles,” Hulme said. “If you look at her you wouldn’t know anything happened to her.”

Maya Hulme is photographed in her Belle River home on Friday, Aug. 10, 2012. Hulme returned from three months in London where she under went surgery and radiation treatment for a brain tumour. The family was overwhelmed by the support they have received. (The Windsor Star / TYLER BROWNBRIDGE)

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